Ho Chi Minh represented a fine dignity because he possessed pure ethics and a creative mind. He devoted all of his life to the progress of mankind and used to exist in the heads and minds of Vietnamese patriots. Although someone deliberately fabricates, distorts and falsifies information about him, truth will always be the truth.

Today, given the robust development of media, people are flooded with news, which is both true and fake. Exploiting those channels, open forums and growth of the Internet, the hostile forces have used every malicious tricks to smear Ho Chi Minh’s dignity. However, they have been unsuccessful when his whole life was extremely pure and fine, a bright example and has become cultural value naturally infiltrating into Vietnamese patriots’ life, like layers of alluvial soils enriching the cultural “field” of the nation.

Pure ethics

On mentioning Ho Chi Minh’s ethics, all of true Vietnamese people and even those not on his side show their respect for him. The reason for this lies in the fact that Ho Chi Minh was the embodiment of great altruism imbued with humanism. He used to try his best to enlighten people about human rights and strongly accuse the colonialists and imperialists of their crimes, oppression and injustice by means of the most convincing evidence. Therefore, he was the vanguard in the struggle against aggression, colonialism and oppression while pursuing an aspiration for building a better society – socialism. Ho Chi Minh used to have deep sentiments towards labourers, especially those in a disadvantageous position in life. He used to be close to the people, understand the people, work for the people, strive for the prosperity of the nation, be faithful to the Party’s ideals, and seek to move Vietnamese people along the road to communism. He devoted himself to the country and “had only one desire to make our country completely independent, our people completely free, and our compatriots have means of subsistence and schooling.” He used to be the first to worry about people’s concern and the last to enjoy people’s happiness. Ho Chi Minh set out and actively realized the standpoint: “the Party must be the truly loyal leader and servant of the people”; and revolutionary people must be the ones who serve the people and are “people’s loyal servants.” “Party members are not mandarins and command people. They must be servants of the masses and work well if they do not wish to be sacked,” said Ho Chi Minh. Even regarding his presidency, he claimed that “I absolutely have no desire for position and fame, or riches and honours. I assume the responsibility for presidency because I am entrusted by my compatriots. I have to try my best to fulfill this job as a soldier obeys the order given by his people. When my compatriots allow me to leave the office, I will be more than happy to step aside”. Ho Chi Minh was one of the most prominent leaders in the world, who showed great diligence, thrift, integrity, uprightness, public-mindedness, selflessness – noble characteristics of true people. “Mother Nature gives birth to four seasons, namely spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Mother Earth has four directions, namely east, west, south, and north. A man possesses four types of ethics, namely diligence, thrift, integrity, and uprightness. Lack of a season cannot make the nature. Lack of a direction cannot make the earth. Lack of a type of ethics cannot make a man,” said him. Those are key contents and values of new ethics (revolutionary ethics), which were summarized and practiced by him. Traditional ethics and revolutionary ethics converged and intertwined in his dignity, and have become an ideal model for the socialist ethics in Vietnam. His life was a complete combination of the true, the good and the beautiful, without corruption. From his childhood until his point of death, from his condition of a slave and a prisoner with a death penalty to a president of a country, he used to be loyal to himself, purify himself in the midst of numerous changes in life, and remain persevering in the face of power, money, and so forth. Ho Chi Minh was also the embodiment of solidarity, peace, friendship, and cooperation for mutual development in the world. The progressive humankind in the world saw his passionate belief in the struggle for people’s progress.

Ho Chi Minh with farmers (A file photo)

A creative mind

Ho Chi Minh’s dignity was further promoted by his intelligence. That intelligence was the crystallization of human knowledge, inheritance of traditional value and selective acquisition of culture of humankind to ceaselessly develop and create in the new era. His dignity reflected the profundity of an Eastern sage, the eruditeness of a Western scholar, and the keenness of a brilliant revolutionist. He left future generations a great legacy of ideology and theory, which implies deep philosophy of life and serves as the guideline for the revolutionary cause of our Party and people. He was a revolutionary leader, diplomat, journalist, poet, and so on. In any role, he gave us sound instructions in the realms of perception and practical activities. That can only exist in a great man, who took long-life study as a means to improve awareness and took practice in real life as a means to improve himself. He learnt in life, at any time and in any where. He learnt from the people and the hard-working humankind. His motivation for studying and self-improving was for the people, for the country, for the progress of mankind, and absolutely not for himself. He learnt to work; to become a good man and a good cadre; to serve organizations, classes, people, the Fatherland, and mankind. He used to devote his talent to the revolution. Those deeds made Ho Chi Minh’s intelligence pure forever and increasingly beautified his dignity. That dignity could only exist in a man who had a great ambition, constantly inclined to the good, and was willing to serve the progress of mankind. That was the dignity of a great man with great knowledge.

We are living in the age of the fourth industrial revolution, which witnesses impressive developments. However, there remain risks of degradation in ethics and dignity. Elsewhere, innocent blood is still spilling as a result of disputes, wars and terrorist attacks. Nuclear weapons, aircraft, tanks, missiles, etc., are still used as vehicles in states’ relations. Those realities require that the development of scientific knowledge have to serve the progress of mankind. Intelligence and ethics must be closely knitted to form a perfect whole conducive to dignity development and operation of contemporary world. It cannot be denied that Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and dignity have become progressive values of the world. They are not only invaluable spiritual assets of the Party and Vietnamese people, but also common value to the development of mankind. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese hero of national liberation and great man of culture. He was a brilliant symbol of determination of a people, and devoted his whole life to the cause of national liberation of Vietnamese people, contributing to the universal struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress. He made a great deal of contribution to culture, education and art. His ideology was the embodiment of peoples’ aspirations for affirming their national identity and served to improve mutual understanding. Ho Chi Minh’s life is a true story about a symbol of the true, the good and the beautiful, which makes any true persons moved and wish to improve themselves.

The facts speak for themselves. The nature of things is constant. Ho Chi Minh’s dignity is always unchanged. No matter how much it is distorted, Ho Chi Minh’s fine dignity still exists in people’s hearts and minds. The distortion, which has been claimed to be “successful” by somebody, is only temporary. Those who deliberately distort and go against the truth are just like using hands to shield the sun!

40 years ago, the Vietnamese-Cambodian relations recorded a watershed event, which was possibly one of a kind in human history. In the face of difficulties and sacrifices, Vietnamese people, directly voluntary soldiers, altruistically helped Cambodians to escape the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime, revive social life and rebuild their once-beautiful country